1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to the art of protecting wine and other liquid fluids from oxidation. More particularly, it relates to an apparatus that includes an inflatable bladder disposed within a bottle that displaces air from the bottle and provides an air-impermeable barrier that protects the contents of the bottle from the effects of oxidation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wine exposed to oxygen suffers a loss in quality of color, taste, and composition due to the process of oxidation. Excessive oxidation leads to spoilage and thus complete loss of the wine. Accordingly, several methods have been developed to prevent such oxidation during production and aging of quality wine.
Methods have also been developed to protect wine in a bottle from oxidation after the bottle has been opened.
One known method requires that the wine be frozen after the bottle has been opened. This technique prevents oxidation, but few customers are willing to wait for a bottle of wine to thaw out after it has been frozen.
Another method includes the steps of decanting the contents of the wine bottle into a container that is sized to exactly hold the wine poured into it, and to seal such container. The theory behind this method is that there will be little or no air between the wine and the seal for the container. However, this requires that a large supply of containers of varying sizes be kept on hand. Moreover, an exact match of container capacity and the volume of wine being decanted is seldom if ever achieved.
Still another method includes the steps of spraying an inert gas into the original wine bottle. The gas displaces the air from the bottle. Problems arise, however, when an effort is made to place a stopper in the bottle after the air has been supplanted by the inert gas. Specifically, some air will almost always be introduced into the bottle during the time required to remove the source of the gas from the mouth of the bottle and to install the stopper. Nor does this method provide a visual indication that the air in the bottle has actually been displaced.
A stopper and pump may also be employed to evacuate air from a bottle. This method reduces the amount of air in contact with the wine, but a perfect vacuum is unattainable. Thus, significant residual air remains in the space above the wine after the vacuuming operation has been completed.
Each of the known methods also exposes the wine to air every time the wine is dispensed.
What is needed, then, is an improved method for preventing or inhibiting oxidation that is not subject to the limitations of prior art methods.
However, in view of the prior art taken as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill how the identified need could be fulfilled.